Chetan coughed politely. He’d probably had his dose of idiotic client behaviour and was more than willing to call it a day.

‘Err, Madam, we have finished all the research that was scheduled for today. Shall I organize some tea and snacks for you and Sir before I take your leave?’ he inquired solicitously.

‘Do you want to eat here?’ Yudi cut in before I could reply. ‘We can grab something on the way back to your hotel, if you like.’

‘There is a very good South Indian restaurant here, Sir,’ Chetan piped up, his face suddenly brightening. ‘You and Madam could try some of their meals. First class!’

‘Actually, I was thinking of taking Miss Red Hot Chilli Pepper some place that would cool her down a bit,’ Yudi said and flashed me one of those smiles that inevitably turned my knees into gooey lumps incapable of supporting my weight. Chetan coughed politely again and, mumbling something under his breath about taking our leave, swiftly sidled out of the room. I glanced at Yudi, but he was calmly getting his stuff together, looking all set to leave as if nothing had happened. As if, just one minute and three seconds ago, he hadn’t asked me out for a date. A date. With Yudi. Because that’s what it was if he wanted to take me out, right?

I gathered my stuff together and lumped everything in an ungainly heap in my jhola, jiggling it around a bit so it would settle down. Maybe Yudi would say something again about us going out together.

‘Hey, that’s a cool bag,’ Yudi said over my shoulder, making me nearly jump out of my skin. I scowled at him. Now he was talking about my bag of all the things!

‘I got it from Dehradun,’ I said shortly and looked pointedly at my wristwatch. ‘Shall we leave?’

‘Yup, I’m good to go!’ Yudi strode out, waving cheerily at some of the kids from the last research group loitering around and I could see some of the girls swoon. I glared at them till my eyes hurt and marched to the cab parked outside.

We sat in stony silence for some time, looking out of our respective windows. I felt Yudi stir and turn towards me but I refused to look at him, staring at the cars buzzing alongside us instead as if it was the most fascinating sight on the planet.

‘So what were you saying back then?’ I heard him ask lazily.

‘Hmm?’ I pulled myself away from the delights of Delhi traffic and gazed at Yudi.

‘About the bag, you said you got it from Dehradun,’ he said, gazing fondly at my bag as I resisted the urge to strangle him.

‘Yes, I did. What’s so fascinating about that?’ I glared at Yudi but he just smiled back and leaned against his seat.

‘Temper, temper again! What’re you so uptight about now? I thought I behaved splendidly all day today,’ he grinned and I clenched my fists. ‘Anyway, the reason I asked was because my friend owns a little store in Dehradun and that bag looks like one of her hand-designed creations. I was just wondering if you picked it up from her store. It’s called ‘This & That’. Did you?’